Florence making it happen for children

Saturday

Jul 13, 2013 at 11:35 PM

Throughout his NFL career, Drayton Florence has given a great deal back to Marion County.

By Richard Burton Correspondent

Throughout his NFL career, Drayton Florence has given a great deal back to Marion County.The graduate of Vanguard High School not only held his 10th annual “Make it Happen” Football Camp on Saturday, but also participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Lillian F. Bryant Community Center where his foundation donated a set of Lenovo computers to the venue’s lab.In the past, Florence’s foundation donated computers and set up a lab at the E.D. Croskey Recreation Center. “(Having a computer lab) is important with the way technology is used now,” Florence said. “Everyone is using the Internet, so to be able to have a center, not just one, but two places in the community, where kids can get tutoring to do homework and work on assignments is vital.“For the kids who don’t have Internet access in their home, having this in place will give them that help and that boost and motivation, so they can strive to be the best they can be.”Aside from his charitable work in Marion County, Florence had the chance to travel to the African country of Malawi earlier this year with the Jack Brewer Foundation.Brewer’s group has been doing global philanthropy for several years, and Florence had the opportunity to meet Joyce Banda, the only female president in Africa.“Her vision is to impact and empower the community through sports,” Florence said. “So we teamed up with One World Futbol and took 11,000 soccer balls over to the country and delivered them to the country. They had a parade to welcome us into their homeland. “(Banda) wants to empower kids through sports. That’s the same thing we do over here.“To be able to accomplish this in Africa with the only female president was something special.”On Saturday evening, Florence returned to his old stomping grounds at Webb Stadium in Ocala for his annual football camp.The current member of the Carolina Panthers’ defensive backfield played Pop Warner Football at Webb, and this was the first time his camp was held at the stadium.“It’s a little more special (to be at Webb),” Florence said. “The kids that participated, most of them didn’t know that’s the practice field that I played on, so it was a lot of fun to run around with the kids and teach them some technique and character development at the same time.“The camp pretty much runs itself with all of the community support and involvement. I’m just glad to see it go on for so long.”Florence was joined at the camp by the likes of Marcus Stroud, Mike Peterson, Jack Brewer and Kawika Mitchell.Up next for Florence is his 11th season in the NFL, but his first in Carolina.“It’s exciting any time that you can play with a quarterback like Cam Newton,” Florence said. “Obviously he can change the game, either running or throwing. He keeps opposing defenses on the field and gives us time to rest. “It’s going to be a great season. I look forward to it. It’s my 11th year in the NFL and I just look forward to getting back to the playoffs and try to get that goal, which is obviously the Super Bowl.”